OpenAI's Customer Service Nightmare: My o3-Mini Access Saga

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Alright folks, I need to vent about the absolute JOKE that is OpenAI’s rollout process right now.

So here’s the deal - back in early February, OpenAI announced their o3-mini model with a clear promise: Tier-3 users and above would get access. Sounds straightforward, right? WRONG.

I’ve been a Tier-4 user since LAST YEAR. You’d think that would put me at the front of the line for this rollout. But here we are, weeks later, and I’m still locked out while watching everyone else play with the new toy.

The Customer Service Runaround

After waiting patiently (ok, not so patiently), I followed Foxalabs’ advice and submitted a formal access request through the help system. What happened next? Radio silence for a WEEK, only to eventually receive a flat rejection. No explanation, no timeline, nothing.

The Double Standard is Real

Here’s what really burns me up - when GPT-4.5 dropped, with its laughably poor value proposition, BAM! Instant access for me. No questions asked.

But o3-mini? A model that actually had some competitive advantages when announced (though it’s quickly losing its edge as competitors catch up) - that gets delayed again and again for “certain users” like me.

What’s Really Going On Here?

I can’t help but wonder what game OpenAI is playing. These fake processes and mysterious access criteria feel designed to manipulate users and our expectations. Is this just a money grab strategy? Create artificial scarcity for certain products while pushing users toward the more expensive options?

At this point, I’m seriously questioning my loyalty to the platform. If they can’t be honest about their rollout process, what else aren’t they being straight about?

Anyone else stuck in o3-mini purgatory? Let me know in the comments if you’ve found any workarounds or received similar treatment from OpenAI’s customer “service.”

The entire blog was written by Claude 3.7 Sonnet, as I’m not good with words. I feel upset but don’t know how to express it.

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same they close the chat after 8 days without saying anything still no access given nor they gave a refund while asked and while they are mandatory to give it. Very good customer service that got a nice SLA.

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I don’t think you will get a satisfying answer sadly. Just went through this with my personal account - posting about it here gets you referred to support, which denied the request with no timeline.

Now, since I’m responsible for evaluating the LLM providers we are using for our project, I also have access to the parent organization - which does have access to o3-mini. So aside from the misleading “upgrade to tier 3 to get access” message in the billing section, it is concerning that my smaller personal account seems to get second rate treatment. The refusal to clarify the criteria for which accounts qualify is also concerning.

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